Searching Behind a Shadows
by kyleoo145
Summary: Naruto's twin sister has the Kyubi sealed into her and is declared a hero of Konoha. Not one to be left behind, Naruto sets out to find his own path. While his sister plays the stereotypical hero with a story everyone has come to know, he will set out in search of something new. For better or worse.
1. Chapter 1

I own nothing

Chapter 1

"It's a girl." The nurse said as she handed the screaming blond newborn to her proud father. Unfortunately, he didn't have time to revel in the moment. Bringing the little bundle around to his wife, he showed the little girl off to her breathless mother who smiled up at her with shining blue eyes.

"Natsura," Kushina stated firmly with a quick glance at her husband. He just smiled at her and nodded his head as she continued, "Now get outta here and if anything goes wrong it is your ass on the line." A chill ran down the man's spine as he nodded hurriedly and disappeared in a flash of yellow.

"Lady Kushina?" one of the nurses asked, "Are you ready for the twin?" The red head gave a little nod and prepared to give birth to the younger of the two twins, but her mind could not be removed from thinking about the newly dubbed Natsura, who was out their with her husband.

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"We just need to hold it back until the Fourth gets here!" Rallied Hiruzen Sarutobi. Everywhere around him Konoha shinobi busied themselves as they kept the mighty Kyubi no Yoko pinned down outside the walls of their village. Hopping from squad to squad, the former Hokage tried his best to keep the momentum up.

Twisting his head, he watched as the massive red fox tried its best to hold off the multitude of attackers that were swarming it. Balls of fire and lightning hurled upon it from every direction while a number of squads kept its movement in check with ropes.

Watching carefully, Hiruzen spotted the rope around one of the Fox's nine tails snapped. The rope glided down towards the earth and was followed by the tail it had feld moments ago, which came crashed through dozens of Shinobi before the holding squad was able to rope it in again.

Rushing off to the area that had just been ravaged by said tail, the Third found relief forces already flowing in, evacuated the injured. Doing his part, the elder Sarutobi took an injured chunin into his arms and begun rushing off towards the walls of the village. Just one among many shinobi escorting the injured, Hiruzern observed as the younger shinobi had trouble remaining composed in the face of the awesome battle and terrifying casualties. He himself had a simple grimace plastered on his face.

Looking down, he looked over his quarry to see is his condition was critical or not. Trying to see through the blood flowing from his abdomen, the Sarutobi observed various shards of wood planted in the flesh, that, along with the fact that his right fore arm seemed to be snapped the wrong way. Deeming that he needed to have the bleeding stopped soon, the old man landed in the midst of the field hospital that was erected in front of the village walls. Bring the chunin to the correct section, Sarutobi was about to leap back to the battle when he was confronted by his former student Tsunade. She was covered in blood and seemed to be in a foul mood, but considering how many people needed attention that was only to be expected.

"Has Minato arrived yet?" She inquired between bouts of shouting at the various medics scrambling about.

"As far as I know he hasn't." came the quick reply before the two senior shinobi went their separate ways.

Arriving back on the field of battle Hiruzen examined the torn up landscape. What had been beautiful forest was now a waste land of flattened and splintered trees mixed in with flames here and their. In the center of it all the giant fox was squared off with Gamabunta and Jiraiya. Who were doing their best to draw the majority of the Kyubi's attention away from the rest of Konoha's force.

Abruptly the Third felt a presence appear next to him. Tilting his head to the side, he saw bright blond hair in his peripheral. Turning around fully, he was faced withed his successor. Glancing down, he saw the bundle in his arms and despite the situation felt a smile creep onto his face as he viewed the squabbled child.

"Old man, this is Natsura." Minato stated with his own smile.

"Oh" the Hiruzen quirked an eyebrow. " I thought you were going to name her after the main character from Jiraiya's second book."

With that comment the Fourth looked rather downcast, "I tried to bring it up last week, but Kushina shot it down instantly. I was able to get away with Naruto because the character is actually a good person. But the other one…" he just trailed off as he saw a look of understanding enter his predecessor's face. "Anyways, what's the situation, are we ready to begin?" the Namikaze asked as he adopted a serious deposition.

Following suite, Hiruzen turned back to the grand battle, "I was keeping quarters on all the squads, and we should be ready. The sealing teams are all in place and ready to back you up. We should be able to bring this beast down when we are ready." Glancing back at the blond he asked, "Shall we begin?" Getting a nod, he made his way off toward his designated position leaving the Fourth alone with his daughter.

Creating a single cross seal, seven shadow clones popped into place and dashed off towards their objectives. Taking a single peek at Natsura he too left for his own spot.

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Turning up at the coordination squad. Hiruzen grabbed the man by the shoulder to get his attention. "It's time to begin." Was all he needed to say.

Having his orders the man turned back to his radio and issued the command that changed the face of the battle.

All around the giant fox, squad captains received their order and initiated their acts. The ropes all around the fox tightened and as the pressure began to rise the great Kyubi found itself slowly losing himself, and a moment later it crumbled to the earth as its legs were pulled out from under it. And so its struggle increased two fold, but the holding squads refused to budge as they secured their holdings.

Meanwhile the Fourth, his clones, and the sealing squads went to work erecting an absolutely massive seal array around and connected to the great beast. With the most care possible in the monstrous situation they created their work. At the very head of the fox, it watched helplessly as the blond man in front of it connected the constructed array to the child in his arms with compete concentration Minato went through perfect strokes and in under two minutes he was ready to begin.

Viewing the face of the Kyubi, he made eye contact with the huge red slitted eyes that bore into him. Not being able to help himself, his blank face changed ever so slightly, just enough to show the great beast a smirk and began to channel his chakra into the mighty array. As the ink began to light up and glow a faint blue, his clones followed his lead and began filling the seal with their own chakra. After a few moments the reaction began and the former blue ink lines were replaced by the furious red that flowed straight towards the seal that adorned Natsura's stomach.

As the flow continued, all those around watched in amazement as the Kyubi began to shrink in size. After a single minute it had already lost half of its mass and the shinobi began feeling secure in their position.

It cost them as the fox felt the hold on one of its tails loosen, it wasn't much, but it was enough for it to take advantage of. Flinging it up, the holding team saw their mistake, and tried to stop it, but the sole tail had already acquired enough momentum and this resulted in the entire team being flung into the sky. The tail then came down swinging as it frantically tried to stop the sealing process. Coming down, it stuck down on one of the sealing teams, obliterating it along with Minato's clone, but not disrupting the array. Receiving the memories, from his clone, the Fourth swore under his breath and looked at the seal to see that the chakra had started flowing back to the Kyubi. His eyes went wide when he realized that if this continued it would drain the chakra from his daughter and kill her. Turning his head, he shouted, "Jiraiya, cover it."

Hearing his student, Jiraiya and Gamabunta hopped into action. The giant toad took upon the responsibility of holding down the tail, while the his summoner took over the job of maintaining the sealing array. With the situation stabilized, Minato let out a sigh of relief as the chakra flow was reversed once again. But couldn't help worry a little for his sensei who was now trying to maintain an entire sector of the array without a sealing squad to support him. Although he hated it, their wasn't anything he could do to rectify the situation.

Five minutes later, the last of the Kyubi's chakra flowed into the array and then into Natsura. With the project complete, the Fourth fell to his knees heaving. All around the array the sealing squads experienced a similar result, as much of their chakra was exhausted keeping the process going and the clones of the Fourth proofed into smoke.

A silence developed over the devastated area. As everyone watched in disbelieve. They had all know that this was coming, but to have actually seen it with their own eyes was astounding. Even the wounded, though in pain felt themselves lose their voice in the midst of the displace.

Hiruzen, who was still with the coordinator too felt himself stunned, but was seemingly the first to recover from his shock, turning to the man at the radio he yelled, "What are you gaping at get the men moving to help the wounded." He slapped the man for added effect. The man just nodded dumbly and turned to the radio. Meanwhile, the Sarutobi sprinted off toward the fallen Hokage.

Upon arriving he was greeted by dull laughter. Minato looked up to him with a grin and chuckled, "We did it." Sitting beside the other man, Hiruzen smiled himself as they watched the shinobi fill the former conflict area and see to the wounded. They talked idly as Natsura slept in her father's lap.

Their good mood came to an abrupt halt when a chunin appeared in front of the two men. Both men looked up at him expectantly, but the chuin avoided their eyes, "Hokage-sama, there… there was been an unexpected event. It… it appears that Master Jiraiya has, well… he, he didn't make it." And faster than the chunin could even see the two Hokages were gone in a cloud of dust.

Showing up at the section of the array that the self proclaimed super pervert had held down, the duo were greeted by the sight of a wailing Tsunade and somber Gamabunta. Minato himself felt his eyes begin to moist while Hiruzen's grimace returned and he whispered. "It seems with every victory come sacrifice."

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It had been a week since the defeat of the great Kyubi no Yoko and currently the entire village was gathered to mourn the greatest loss of live the village had suffered since the end of the Third Great Shinobi War. All the streets were swamped in black clad mourners as everyone milled about the Hokage tower in the middle of the village.

Standing atop the tower stood the Hokage and his family, along with the counsel and their families. Minato stood at the railing looking out over the sea of black before him while holding little Natsura in his arms. At either of his side was Kushina with Naruto and the aged Third.

"That was quite the speech Minato." Hiruzen whispered, the feeling of death cringing to him.

"Thank you, unfortunately there is no rest for the me." Minato replied in an equally somber voice. Turning to Kushina, he handed Natsura to her, "I'm sorry dear, I'll be home as soon as possible." Kushina just nodded and accepted Natsura as Minato turned and walked off.

Amongst the other families occupying the roof of the Hokage tower, the various counsel members excused themselves and followed the Hokage towards the counsel chambers.

As everyone was taking their seats, Minato surveyed the room. There was none of the usual chit-chat that accompanied these meetings and the shoulders of all those presence seemed to be weighted down by some invisible weight.

As everyone was presence and ready, they all looked to Minato expectantly, eliciting a sigh from the blond man. "I understand that everyone wants to be with their families right now, myself included, but we need to go over the battle. We have been putting this off for a week, but it needs to get done now." Turning to the shadowy corner he called out," Commander whenever you are ready."

Stepping out from the shadows the ANBU commander appeared. He was dressed a beige cloak with the normal white mask of the ANBU, but it was blank. "Yes sir. At 15:07 Jiraiya engaged the Kyubi from the rear keeping it from face the village and opening its rear to be easily surrounded. 15:20 Kyubi was adequately stopped by the holding squads. 15:23 Holding squad four's rope snapped, allowing the tail to attempt to free itself. Squad four B was able to recapture the tail before it was able to break anymore of the ropes. 15:27 Hokage-sama arrived and prepared the sealing. 15:29 The sealing started. 15:30 Squad 2 loses control of their tail. The tail destroyed sealing team 5, but did not damage the seal itself. Gamabunta stopped the tail from causing more damage while Jiraiya took over for the deceased sealing team 5. 15:36 sealing is complete. Casualties amounted to 89 dead (4 ANBU, 28 Jonin, 56 Chunin and Jiraya) and 231 injured (27 ANBU, 69 Jonin, 135 Chunin). Of those injured 13 are still in critical condition, 86 are going to need to go through long term recovery and rehabilitation, 64 are going to be ready to return to active duty within a week, while the remaining 68 are permanently disabled. Over all casualties of 320 were far below the estimate of 500. Based on estimates from before the battle, it was a success." He finished in an empty monotone voice. Those who sat around listening too could feel that emptiness, and though they all could agree that things had gone far better than had been expected, it didn't change the fact that they as leaders had sent many men and women to their graves.

The Hokage let the words of his ANBU commander linger for a minute before speaking up, "Thank you commander." The man bowed and backed into the shadows once more. "Now that that has been addressed I would like to emphasize that while sacrifices were made it brought about the end of a great threat and turned it into a weapon of unfathomable potential for the village, BUT let me be absolutely clear. As her parents, Kushina and I will ultimately decide when and how to train her. Advice and counsel will be taken into consideration, but that is all. Are there anymore issues any you wished to discuss?"

Silence reigned across the room as everyone looked about almost threateningly, as no one wanted to be held back from being with their loved ones. After a minute the counselors thought it was save and just as the first of them stood to leave a voice called them back.

"Hokage-sama, we have heard much about your daughter Natsura, but what of your other child, the son. We don't even know his name." Spoke the elder Homura and even though all those in attendance had been but moments from leaving, this one question did in fact perk their interest. Many of them sat back as the mystery of this other child sparked their thoughts.

With the full attention of the audience back on him, Minato realized that between the battle with Kyubi, leading the village through their loss, and dealing with his own grievances about the lost of his dear sensei Jiraiya, he hadn't spend anytime thinking about his own son. Committing that to memory, he address the waiting counsel, "His name is Naruto and he is fine. He expect great thing from him in the future. Now everyone please enjoy your time with your family, we will meet tomorrow at 2:00." Standing up he gave a quick bow before disappearing in a cloud of smoke.

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Appearing in another cloud of smoke, Minato looked around in confusion. Not seeing anyone he took in the lush surroundings, but was promptly beat over the head. "What are you doing ignoring me boy." Croaked a voice from behind him.

Turning on a dine, Minato looked down and spotted a little toad sitting in front of him waving its staff around menacingly. Scratching the back of his head and smiling, Minato expressed his embarrassment with a slight laugh, "Sorry about that Pa, but I didn't know where I was." Only to be clubbed again.

"You're been here plenty of times, you should know what it looks like." The blond just pouted. "Anyways come along, there is much to discuss." Stated the little toad as he hopped onto the human's shoulder.

They sprinted to the elder toads house. Upon entering the house, a frying pan came out of no where, nailing the male toad in the face and sending him right back through the door. Likewise his blond companion also received a frying pan headshot which left him red faced and crumbled on the ground.

"For god's sake get up you two. It's just embarrassing to see two grown boys out from such a tap. Up… up with you." Squawked a voice in the kitchen. Rapidly composing themselves, the duo entered the establishment and this time avoided their respective pans.

"Thanks for the warm welcome ma." Groaned Minato with heavy sarcasm as he nursed his throbbing face.

"Of course." she replied cheerfully. "Now why don't you to sit down while I busy myself with the tea." Minato and Pa did as they were told and took their seats at the table, though Minato had to forsaken his chair due to its small size. "Now Minato-kun we are very sorry to hear about Jiraiya and we have spent our own time mourning his passing. He was the best summoner we have ever had, and was, despite how we sometimes interacted, very highly respected. Many of the other toads are still in a veil of depression at the moment and I don't think Bunta-kun has stopped drinking since he got back. We will have to wane him off of that and then there are his kids, they shouldn't be seeing him like that. Hmm… I wonder why his wife has let him act in such w-"

"MA get back on topic." Pa shouted.

Placing the tray of tea on the table, she gave her husband a dark look, "Don't get snappy with me mister. Anyways, sorry about that Minato-kun, but you should go talk to Bunta when you get a chance."

Sipping on his tea, Minato looked at the elder toad and gave the best smile he could, but it didn't look to sincere. "I'll do that when I can. I was hopping to spend the day with my family, so if we could get through this I would appreciate it."

"Oh I had completely forgot, how are you new tadpoles." Ma questioned enthusiastically.

Nodding, the blond began running of the details on his new kids. "Well as you know we had twins. One is a girl, Natsura. She came first and with no complications. We used her for the sealing and she appears to be handling it find so far. She has my hair, but her face resembles Kushina's. Oh and she had bright blue eyes. She looks quite adorable with these little whisker marks on his face. They seem to be a side effect of the sealing, but it should be fine. We were a little worried about her because she isn't very loud and doesn't cry that often, but Tsunade has assured us that she is in perfect health. If it keeps up then it should be pretty nice to have a quite baby. The other one is a boy named Naruto. He seems to be all me. Though his eye while blue, are quite dark. And unlike his sister he is constantly wailing, it is going to drive us crazy."

"Oh don't worry about it they will grow up so fast. And I know you want to get back to them, but we didn't just bring you here for the pleasantries. We need to discuss your new position had head summoner of the Toads." Pa said and everyone around the table got serious. "With this installment, it is time for you to meet the great toad sage. You will also be tasked with the protection of the Toad Contract. We don't mean to burden you, we know you are very busy as the leader of your village, but we hope to continue to good relations with Konoha. Finally, you will have to be very careful to consider the feeling of the Toad. Remember, like any other summon, we don't like to be forgotten about and only summoned when you are in desperate need of help."

Minato let out a sigh, "I can uphold all those terms, except possibly the last one." But then his eyes hardened. "As Hokage I can't be seen as someone who needs help winning his battles. I-" but he cut of but a cane cracking his skull.

"That's just the type of attitude that we don't what to see." Pa replied sternly, returning the blonds gaze. "When you saw Jiraiya summon one of us toads, less than half the time was it to fight. Whether it was for company, to help his with his 'research', or just for a drinking partner he viewed us as his friends not as allies."

Realization dawned on the Hokage's face, and he looked down, ashamed with himself. "Look, I'm sor-" but this time fell on his side from the swat the old toad's cane delivered to his head.

"Don't go wallowing on us now ya stupid tadpole." Squawked the elder, but his eyes were now swimming with amusement. "Now that you seem to understand your obligations we may say we are happy to have you as our summoner, I'm know you'll make both us and Jiraiya proud."

Still recovering from the lump on the side of his head, the Namikaze just nodded his head and gave a light glare to Pa, but when the toad raised his cane threatening, the blond suddenly learned to smile again. "Good, good." Cooed Ma and bring the attention of the two men, "Now, we just have one last itsy-bitsy thing to discuss. Minato-kun we are curious if you can pick out either of your children to become future toad summoners."

The blond just looked at her with wide eyes and stuttered, "I…I.. How can you ask something like that?!"

The female toad just shook her head as if it were so obvious, "Minato-kun. Dear you have to understand that it is the hope of every summoner clan to find a family to establish as its own. In a sense it develops a degree of trust both ways and helps increase a summoning clan's prestige. It allows us to guarantee a line of strong and reliable summoners and gives you an ally that you too know you can rely on. Also, strong partnerships are best formed young, so we could hone teamwork to a degree that would otherwise be much harder to obtain." Ma explained. "Preferably we would love to be partnered with Natsura. It-"

"Oh, why Natsura and not Naruto?" the Fourth replied rather harshly, he didn't like the idea of his son being left behind so easily.

Ma was quick to respond, but her voice was no longer held the optimistic tone it had held moments before. "Don't try to pretend with us Minato, we all know that having the Kyubi sealed inside of her instantly makes her important to your village. No matter how much you deny it, her training will start much sooner than you would like and she is guarantee to be a powerhouse. The prospect of such a summoner, is not something we will pass up lightly. Also, while your other tadpole with no doubt be strong, he will never achieve the same level as his sister. We can see that, so don't try to play us off." Ma pushed. Watching Minato throughout the entire conversation, they had both expected him to show anger or bitterness for the statement, but for him to just look down and sigh, they were both off set a bit.

Looking up at the two toads, Minato let a hand run through his hair as he thought of the best way to break the new to them. He let out another sigh, "I'm sorry, but I already went through all this. The claim on Natsura's summoning has already been decided." Ma and Pa gave him a weird look. "Almost a month ago, a similar thing happened to Kushina. She was reverse summoned my her own summon creatures. I followed using Hiraishin and we discussed the passing on of that contract to whichever child was the one to have the Kyubi sealed into it."

"And what contract is it that Kushina holds?" Pa asked.

Minato let out another sigh, "The Dragons."

And with those words uttered the two elder toads flinched while the Fourth watched curiously. "Do you have a problem with the dragons?" he inquired.

After taking a moment to recompose themselves Pa hopped onto the table and seemed to speak for the both of them as Ma nodded in the background, "Well you see boy, the Dragons are what we would call first tier creatures. Over centuries they have proven themselves to be both wise and powerful. Very few other creatures have ever reach this point. Us Toads only recently reached the second tier and that was thanks to Jiraiya."

"Then why did you seemed so…" He just trailed off, not entirely sure what to say.

And the two toads seemed to know what he meant and Pa let out a sigh. "It goes like this boy, every summon that reaches the first tier acquires an arrogance about them that is rather unprecedented. They are better than everyone else and they know it. They bully others and no one stands up to them. Anyone who has every tried was brutally put down. Even their own family wasn't safe from this."

"What did they do to their family?" Minato asked.

"For as long as their have been dragons their have been one big difference in themselves. Most are born normal, but others, only about one in ten, are born without wings. For a species that is so focused on flying and incorporates it into so much of their life this is a handicap that could end you. But then around the time you humans were fighting your 'First Great Shinobi War' the royal family of the dragons had two sons. The older son, Riugoku was to inherit the title of clan head. But he was born without wings. As he grew up he turned into a bit of an oddity. He was an incredibly talented fighter and leader, but he was discriminated against, just like with other wingless dragons. But as the clan heir he had immense political power and he tried to change it so that wingless dragons would be treated fairly. Eventually his father died and it was time to pass on the title of clan head, but it was decided to pass the title onto the younger of the two sons, Riumohu. Riugoku was angry and condemned the action, but his brother would have none of that and banished him. The other wingless dragons, seeing the older as the true heir followed him into exile. Riumohu saw it as a personal offense that they wanted to leave and chased after them. The wingless dragons hid in a cave and prepared to fight, but the winged dragons, knowing that in a cave they wouldn't be able to utilize their ability to fly, went to their allies, the Uzumaki for assistance. The Uzumaki helped the winged dragons seal the wingless one inside the cave. To show their appreciation the winged dragons gave the key to the wingless dragon's prison to the Uzumaki. Unfortunately as you know the Uzumaki were almost entirely wiped out, and the key was stolen by the invading forces, but like all of their wealth of information, it required a living Uzumaki to open. You remember when Kumo kidnapped Kushina when she was little? We believe it was to help them open the Uzumaki scrolls."

Minato listened to the tale in disbelief and was about to comment on how barbaric it was, until he thought about the fact that even within his own village their were such people who would harm or disregard their own kin. 'For Kami's sakes both our most powerful clans, the Uchiha and the Hyuga, act in such a way.' He suddenly felt rather tired as he reflected once more on his deceased sensei. 'If I'm ever going to bring peace to the world I am going to need to start in my own home.' Then something from what the toads said came to his mind, "I thought that Kushina was kidnapped because of her being the jinchiriki of the Kyubi."

"Pssshhh… don't be silly Minato-kun. There was no way they knew about that. That was a very tightly held secret. No, we think it is more likely they were trying to unlock the secrets of the Uzumaki clan. But we are getting off topic aren't we," Ma scolded. "Returning to our original subject we would like to enquire if son Naruto is available."

Minato felt a little uncomfortable negotiating with his own son. It seemed wrong, but he knew that having a summon contract could a an incredible boon for any shinobi, and if he passed up the opportunity, events could lead to him not being able to reacquire it for his son, so he nodded his head, "I believe that will work."

Both Ma and Pa smiled, while they weren't getting Natsura, they were getting entrance into the Namikaze family, and if the arrangement with the dragons went south then just maybe they could still have a change at getting Natsura's name on their contract. "Well that only leaves one piece of business to attend to. It is time for you to meet the Elder Toad Sage." Ma chipped, and started hopping towards the door, but seemed to remember something and turned back and looked at Minato. "Oh, it almost slipped my mind, but he wanted to talk with both you and Kushina. Is it possible for you to get her?"

At that Minato enter a thinking pose. On one hand Kushina didn't want to leave the presence of the kids , but he could just bring them along he mused. Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a yellow kunai and dropped it on the ground, before disappearing in a flash of yellow.

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A moment later he was at Kushina's side. Wrapping his arms around her waist, he looked over her shoulder to see both Natsura and Naruto cuddled together asleep in a crib. On the other side of the crib, Tsunade was sitting in a chair, also watching the cute scene.

"Where have you been Minato-kun?" Kushina asked as she turned her head to him and gave him a little kiss on the check.

Minato just smiled at her, "The Toads wanted to talk. I'm actually about to go and see the elder sage, but he said that he wanted to see both of us. Do you mind leaving these two for a few minutes?" She tensed up in his arms, but as he rubbed her stomach she relaxed.

After a minute of silent contemplation she nodded her head. "As long as it doesn't take to long. Tsunade, you can watch them for a bit can't you?" Tsunade looked up for a moment and nodded her head, causing Kushina to smile. A second latter they disappeared in a yellow flash.

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Ma and Pa waited anxiously as for the return of the Fourth. They each knew what it was that the Great Toad sage wanted to tell the Namikaze couple, but they each worried that the two wouldn't take the possible threat seriously.

After a minute of staring at the yellow kunai Minato had dropped, they her startled back into reality by the arrival; of Minato and Kushina.

"Ah, its wonderful to see you my dear." Pa said, but was smashed over the head by Ma.

"Don't be flirting with the woman." She scolded.

Kushina looked a bit embarrassed and intervened in order to safe the elder male, "Don't read into it to deeply, it was just a greeting. And its good to see you to Pa." Ma just humped and turned away, closely followed by the others.

They walked in silence through the doors of the Great Toad Sage. The room was huge. Pills surrounded the outer area. In the center was a huge graying toad. He was covered in wrinkles and had an odd hat on. His eyes were following their movement rather lazily.

"Fukasaku-kun, Shima-chan it is good to see you again. Is this him?" The sage toad asked.

Pa nodded his head, nod even bothering to respond. He knew faster they could get this over with the sooner the elder Toad Sage could go to sleep, which is what he spent most of his time doing due to his old age.

The elder sage returned the nod. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you Minato-kun. Jiraiya-kun spoke very highly of you."

Minato gave him a sad smile, "You honor me with you praise."

"But of course. You have earned that praise. But that is not why I have asked you here. Please listen carefully. I am tired and can only stay awake for so long. Many years ago I met Jiraiya. He was a very interesting boy. And I gave him my blessing to begin learning to harness the energy of the world around us. My feeling that he was very interesting boy proved correct, as that night I had a vision of sorts. In this vision a child of Jiraiya's greatest student was showed. A great burden was bestowed up this child and this child showed great promise in becoming the greatest shinobi the world had ever seen, but there were to paths that this child could take and use its power to achieve. On one had they could be great the great savior and bring peace to the world, while on the other hand they could become bring on the end of the world as we know it, and bath the world in flames." He finished in a rather dramatic fashion.

The silence that over came the room was rather heavy and the occupants couldn't help but gulp. Taking a step forward, the Fourth opened his mouth to ask a question, but before he could begin, he was cut off by heavy snoring coming from the giant toad which left him with but a sigh. "Ma, Pa, I'll talk to you two later." Wrapping his arm around Kushina's waist, they disappeared in a flash of yellow.

When they were gone, Pa turned to the Great Toad Sage, "You know, you really scared them." He said.

The older toad, who miraculously seemed to be awake now looked down at him and replied solemnly, "That is for the best. I just hope they are able to keep them on the right path instead of turning them away from it."

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Tsunade had been sprawled out in a rather comfortable chair for the last twenty minutes. She was currently enjoying a bottle of sake and watching the two blond babies. She was knocked out of her stupor by the arrival of Minato and Kushina, how appeared in the blink of an eye. "We're back Tsunade." The Fourth said and walked over to the crib. Silently he watched them sleep peacefully and a smile grew on his face. Turning to Kushina, he was slightly disturbed to see her staring off into space. Feeling concerned he took her hands in his and started swinging them back and forth gently. A few moments later she seemed to come to.

"Dear? What's wrong?" the blond asked softly as his blue eyes started into her own. She seemed to have an internal debate with herself, but he waited patiently for her to resolve herself. Though when she did speak he was shocked.

"I'm scared." she said softly and Minato went wide eyed. Now while he knew his wife wasn't invincible and had her own set of fears, she never ever admitted to have such feelings. Such words seemingly didn't have a place in her vocabulary, and yet here it was.

Scrunching up his face, Minato observed her as she looked down meekly, only for him to cup her chin and force her to look into his eyes again. "You aren't that worried about what that old coot said are you?" he teased playfully, trying to reveres her mood, but she didn't bite one bit, in fact her eye flashed in anger.

"How can you say that?! This is a serious matter you idiot. We are going to need to help Natsura. We can't let tha-" but her angry rant was interrupted by her blond husband.

"Why do you assume it is Natsura?" though his voice showed his confusion, on the inside he knew he had been thinking the exact same way as her, but since that moment in his counsel chambers he felt compelled to not disregard Naruto. He refused to leave his son behind in this whirl of excitement, and yet he knew it was going to be say hard. And indeed so, as his last comment seemed to send her over the edge.

"What the hell to you mean, there is no way you possibly actually think that it is about Naruto! It was very clear 'a child with a great burden' what greater burden is there than the task of being the eternal jailer of a biju. Oh Kami! What if she can't control it! What if it has already corrupted her! Oh no maybe we have already failed!" Kushina freaked out as her breathing became erratic and sweat seemed to be accumulating on her brow.

"Kushina!" The Fourth shouted back as he grabbed her shoulders and shook them, effectively silencing her break down moment for now. Taking advantage of her silence, he looked into her eyes again and was startled to see the fear that was accumulating in them. She seemed to be completely losing herself and it was starting to scare him. He had never seen her this way, hell he had rarely seen anybody like this. Determined to put a stop to the moment he spoke in a firm voice that left no room for argument. "Kushina you need to calm down. If you keep this up you are going to wake up the kids. Just take a few breaths and calm down." He said as he pulled her into a tight hug.

He was happy when she didn't resist and instead melted into his body. But that comfort he was giving her only went so far, as a few moments later, he felt his shoulder wetting. Pulling back just a bit, the Fourth was confronted with the tear stained face of Kushina who wept softly.

Sighing to himself Minato pulled her over to the leather couch in the room. He laid her body down and rested her head on his lap. As she continued to cry, blond softly stroked her hair.

'What got her so worked up?' he thought with a sigh. 'I'll have to ask her later.' He resolved. Looking over at Tsunade, he wasn't surprised to see the woman was quietly relaxing and sipping on another sake bottle, but the glances she kept sending in their direction meant that she had most definitely been paying attention to what had been going on with Kushina's little break down. It also showed that, even though she was drunk, she was still holding on enough to be worried about his wife.

Switching focus to the twins, he was glad they had not been awaked by any of the recent activity. Both were snuggling into blankets next to each other.

In the silence of the room, Minato felt at peace for the first time since the whole affair began and so he just relaxed.

He was startled awake by a little giggling coming from the room. Minato lazily looked down at his wife and gave a tiny grin. "What's so funny?" he asked, but had to stop midsentence to yawn.

"Oh you looked so cute sleeping there." She laughed.

"Pshh, I am the Hokage, one of the most powerful shinobi the world has ever seen." He exclaimed with exaggerated arm waves. "I most definitely and with the utmost certainly am not cute." And proceeded to contradict the whole act by finishing with a playful pout.

But Kushina couldn't resist and reached up and grabbed his cheek, giving it a nice squeeze. Then proceed to burst out laughing when he tried to resist her touch.

Gazing down at her, the Fourth was delighted to see a large smile planted on her still wet face. While he was thrilled to see she was no longer in her dreary disposition, he knew that what ever had been the cause of her crash would have to be confronted. 'Well, there's no time like the present.' He thought.

"Kushina?" Minato asked. Sensing the change in moods from her lover, the red head squirmed a bit know what was next, "What happened earlier?"

With that question, the atmosphere in the room seemed to have been slain and was now bleeding uncomfort. The blond man's heart twitched as he observed the inner turmoil playing across his wife's face. Feeling ranging from fear to sadness, anger to scorn played an unusual game of tug-a-war.

Her face, having finally set on melancholy, gave off a sigh, "It's just like the prophesy from the Dragons." Came the whisper. Looking up with dead eyes Kushina was able to keep her husband's mouth shut, letting her tell her story at her own pace. "Back when I was still young and liking in whirlpool there was a prophesy delivered to us from the Dragons. It told of death and destruction in the clan's future with we continued fighting _Kiri_." Her voice seemed to staled with the mention of that other hidden villages name. "Give how it seemed that we were winning, most of the clan scoffed and spoke of how no enemy had ever gotten past the whirlpools that protected the island, but not everyone was so convinced. My parents though, as the heads of the clan and signers of the dragon contract, trusted in the wisdom of the dragons and tried to convince the rest of the clan that we should listen to the warning, but their pleas fell on deaf, as even with their title as head, the rest of the clan didn't feel that the word of the dragons were to be taken that seriously. Conceding to pressure, my parents decided to send me away to Konoha so I would be safe. I remember crying so hard when they told me I had to leave." And indeed, tear began to slip from his blue orbs as she recalled seeing her parents for what would be the last time. As she reminisced in her head, Minato was feeling the foreboding of the story. Reaching down he began to softly rub circle into her stomach as he waited semi-patiently fro her to continue.

Wiping the tears from her eyes after a minute she continued softly, "At the time, I didn't understand why it was that I had to leave everything behind. I mean it was my world… my parents, my friends, my clan… it was my home and the two people I loved more than anything in the world were taking that away from me." She gave off a sigh and snuggled a little closer to her husband. "Strangely after I left the fighting seemed to lull. Kiri stopped sending ships dear Whirlpool. A few thought they had been beaten into submission, but the clan stayed vigilant, but this proved difficult as an entire year came and went without a peep from Kiri. Everything seemed to have cooled down and my clan let its guard down." Tension hung in the air, even though they both knew what was coming next, "They ended up paying for it in blood as one calm night in the middle of summer Kiri came, but they weren't alone, as this time Kumo, who had seemingly ended their civil war, was with them. I don't know how they got past the natural whirlpools that protected they island, but they did, and it turned into a slaughter as my clan wasn't able to mound a defense in the dark of the night. As a result Whirlpool was burned to the ground ands everyone there died with it…" She just trailed off.

Minato of course had heard the story of the fall of Whirlpool many times before, but this was the first time he had heard that the dragons had warned of such an event. Of course this also led to some other oddities. "Wait, I thought you came her to become the next keeper of the Kyubi."

She nodded, further confusing him, "I came here for many reason, becoming the next jinchuriki was just one of them. If the prophesy had never been told and Whirlpool not been destroyed, I would have come later." She clarified.

"Ah, ok. And then the reason you were… disturbed, by the toad sages prophesy was because you had already been devastated by one?" she confirmed that with the shake of her head. Giving a warm smile to her, he bent over and gave her a little kiss on the forehead, "Then we will just have to make sure she stays on the right path now won't-"

"WAAAAAAHHHH!" Came a cry from the crib, causing Minato and Kushina to fall over.

"Haha, and there's the little angel now." The Fourth stated happy as he helped his wife up. Now standing on her own two feet, Minato gave her hand a squeeze.

"Natsura can do it, and we will be there to support her on every step of the way." He reassured her before moving over to the screaming twins. Watching him go, Kushina felt her heart warm and smiled.

'Maybe everything will be alright.'

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And that is it folks. I have been thinking this story through for a while now. I know the whole Naruto's twin thing has been done before and he ends up loveless, but I ain't going to be following that train. Sure Natsura is going to be getting more attention and Naruto is going to resent it, but Minato and Kushina aren't going to forget about him. Anyways, unlike all my other stories, I have actually thought this one through and know where I am going to go with it. Everything else I have written has just sputtered off and died because I can't think of how to continue it. But I will have no such problem with this story. I hope to drop a new chap every two week. I am not sure entirely about pairing or who is going to die when, but hopefully it will feel a bit original. If anyone has any input or questions, feel free to leave a comment, it not, then have a damn good day.


	2. Chapter 2

I own nothing.

Chapter 2

Battle roared across the lines as the two armies faced off in a epic battle for the ages. On one side the were the forces of Konoha fighting the good fight and trying to keep oppression from the lands. Working together in perfect coordination the worked to drive the innumerable enemy back to whatever hole they had come from. The trees were covered in flames and lightning crackled in the air, and yet through massive casualties the enemy kept coming.

This threat, the zombie sharks hordes had come from the sea one day and conquered the entirety of Water Country. Every human was enslaved and used in the most vile ways possible, doing things like washing dishes and homework. From there they had slowly begun to take territory on the main lands until only Fire Country, and their powerful shinobi village of Konoha were left. The zombie sharks, under their leader Mr. Teeth, had tried to take Fire country many time, but the powerful Konoha shinobi and their own leader, the Fifth Hokage, had kept them from having their prize. In over to finish of Konoha once and for all, Mr. Teeth gathered an epic army of fifteen million zombie sharks and invaded Fire Country. Under such overwhelming numbers, the Konoha shinobi drew up a line and prepared to face the menace in an last stand for the ages. And so they found themselves in battle fighting for their lives…

In the center of it all a tall man with silver hair drove his lightning encased fast through the chest of a zombie shark that was over three meters tall. Pulling the bloody appendage out, he observed his surrounding, only to find himself completely surrounded. The beast were hideous creatures. The bipedal sharks had shiny teeth and each was at least two and a half meters tall. Their bodies were rippling with muscle, but lacked much in the way of brain power.

Entering a combat stance and Kakashi braced himself as his enemies came, but before they could get more than two steps a green blur smashed into them and with a shout of "YOUTH!" their numbers were cut in half. Not one to be out done, the silver haired man moved towards the remainder of the zombie sharks and easily disposed on them.

"Kakashi! My that was a most YOUTHFUL display, but I have gotten two more than you have!" The green clad ninja proclaimed, as he engaged the next wave of opponents.

Kakashi was right behind him, "Ma, you say something Gai?" He asked in his usual lazy drawl, though, if he asked himself honestly, even he knew this wasn't the time to be messing with his "eternal rival."

While breaking the face of one of his enemies with his fist, Gai began raving about Kakashi and his cool hip attitude.

Kakashi did his best to ignore it and produced a massive fire ball that incinerated a dozen of the fish monstrosities, but they were only replaced by twice as many, forcing Kakashi to fall back.

Again he found himself surrounded, but this time he wasn't alone. Standing back to back with Gai, his muscles stayed tense as he prepared for his new foes to approach.

"Kakashi, we can not do this forever. Where is our YOUTHFUL Hokage?" Gai shouted as both he and his silver haired companion dashed upon their circle of attackers.

"He will be here soon Gai, just keep going!" blurring through handseals, he unleashed a new volley of fire onto the sharks. Suddenly, Kakashi's world slowed as his sharingon began spinning furiously and in his peripheral he watched in slow motion as one of the zombie sharks swung at him with it bone sword. Ducking low, Kakashi was able to avoid the blow with only a few hair off his head. Retaliating quickly, he weaved through another swipe, before slamming his fist into the giant sharks gut, sending it backwards into a tree. Turning, the silver haired man reentered the fray, as he waited from the Fifth Hokage to come and save them all.

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" , we are pushing the stupid ninja back. Soon we will have defeated these puny humans and the world will be ours." Spoke out one of Mr. Teeth's lieutenants.

Mr. Teeth himself sat on his throne as he observed the battle from a nearby hilltop. He was much lager than the average zombie shark. Standing at a full six meters and being as broad as one of his companions was tall, gave him an incredibly imposing form. Glancing over at his lieutenant, he gave toothy grin before replying, "Good, good. But has that pesky leader of their showed up yet?"

"Not yet sir. But, with the enemy being pushed, it is only a matter of time before he shows up to try and save them. Will you be engaging him yourself?" the lieutenant asked.

"Of course, he has always run away from me before, but not this time. This time I will tear him apart!" The oversized fish exclaimed., before finishing with a stereotypical evil guy laugh.

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Back with the battle, the Konoha shinobi I were starting to get tired. Their enemy was endless, but they themselves were starting to wear thin and by now the massive enemy force had completely surrounded them. Leaders tried their best to rally their squads, but the situation was beginning to get desperate. Moral was dropping and casualties were mounting.

Kakashi was still battling along side his friend Gai, but he too was running on empty. Spotting a punch coming towards him, he did his best to dodge, but even with his sharingon, he was to tired to make the full effort and the punch landed on his shoulder. Lousing his balance, he was unable to avoid the follow-up blow that left an imprint on his body on the ground. Looking up meekly, Kakashi watched as his opponent brought out a bone knife and went for his jugular. Resigning himself to his fate, he watched the blade descend. Gai, turning his head and saw the situation his eternal rival was in, but when he attempted in intervene his way was blocked by a plethora of fresh adversaries. He was only able to shout and pray, but both proved to be unnecessary, as a moment before the blade could pierce into Kakashi a blur of yellow swept through the area, effectively eliminating all the zombie sharks in the area.

Looking up at his savior, Kakashi felt a smile pull on the edges of his masked mouth. "What took you so long Naruto-kun?" he teased his leader.

"Kakashi, I thought I asked you to stop calling me that." He replied.

But before the silver haired man could reply his eternal rival came over, and started gushing, "That was a most YOUTHFUL display Hokage-sama! Your entrance into the field of battle was most hip and befitting of your position! I give it a ten out of ten!"

Looking over at the eccentric beast of Konoha, Naruto tilted his head to the side and asked, "You say something Gai?" Both older men just stared with wide eyes. Kakashi was thinking about how proud he was, while Gai could get over how hip hi leader was.

Not being able to contain himself, Gai began raving, "That is the most hip of attitudes Hokage-sama! You are a most fit leader!"

Tuning the green man out, Naruto turned to Kakashi, who again reminisced in the fact that he looked so much like his Father. He had long blond hair that was pulled back into a short ponytail and blue eyes. He was tall and wore a similar cloak to his father, though his was orange, with white flames licking the bottom.

Kakashi was about to say something, but whatever it was, he was completely drown out by an incredible roar. All three glanced in the direction it had come from. Approaching them was an the largest of all the zombie sharks. The fighting around them came to a stop as the leaders of the two sides confronted each other.

"Mr. Teeth, what a surprise seeing you here." Naruto commented.

The giant sharks just chuckled. "As cool as ever puny human. I look forward to smearing you in the dirt."

Shaking his head the Fifth disappeared in a yellow blur and before Mr. Teeth knew what had hit him a fist slammed into his gut, but the sheer size of the fish made it feel like a little tap. A vortex of yellow seemed to form around him and the sound of flesh hitting flesh resonated through the area. For a full minute this continued and everyone watched with anticipation, but when it came to an end and Naruto stopped moving, the shark was standing still and watching the procession with a lazy look.

"Is that the best you have boy? It felt like a rather fine massage." He said with a toothy grin. The Fifth just let out a growl, which made the hark snicker. "My turn."

Blurring out of existence, the Fifth barely made it out of the way as a giant fist connected with the ground, where he had just been standing, the sheer force seemed to cause a mini earthquake. Twisting his head, Mr. Teeth shot toward the blonds new location an delivered another fist, only for him to meet the ground again. They continued their little dance as all the forces from both sides watched it awe as the strongest from each side duked it out.

"Stop running you coward!" Mr. Teeth roared as he started getting frustrated of chasing the yellow haired man. With that flash move he kept using it was impossible to hit him. Growling to himself, the giant shark chose a new strategy, and instead of following after Naruto the next time he flashed, instead rushed the closed group of Konoha shinobi.

Horror stricken the Fifth Hokage flashed into the group of three shinobi, but was only able to take two of them with him, to escape the wrath of the shark's fist. Al around, the shinobi were disgusted, while the sharks had a wicked grin on their faces as they all watched Mr. Teeth's fist come down on the lone human and break him down into the ground like a slinky.

As the dust cleared Mr. Teeth waited for the return of his chosen opponent and he didn't have to wait long, for in the blink on a eye Naruto had returned and he didn't look happy. "Going to stop running now?" Asked the huge shark.

The Hokage just glared at him and stuck his arm out. Everyone watched in amazement as a dense blue ball of chakra formed. "You're right, I won't be running anymore. I'm ending THIS!" he yelled and ran disappeared in another flash. When he reappeared he was right in front of Mr. Teeth, but the blue ball had become absolutely massive, now a full meter in diameter. Trusting it forward faster than Mr. Teeth could react it connected and began eating through the outer layer of the shark, and with a shout of "Rasengan!" the leader of the shark zombies was set flying. All around, combatants followed the body of Mr. Teeth as it soared to meet the horizon, before eventually disappearing.

The dreadful look that appeared on the faces of all the zombie sharks was price less and many began slowly backing away from the Konoha shinobi. Turning his head towards the nearest of the sharks, Naruto smiled a fake smile and spoke, "Roar."

The zombie sharks couldn't run away fast enough and Naruto was left behind with his subordinates. Everyone was looking around when it dawned on them, they had won. They had actually done it and they were alive to tell the tale. Smiles began to appear along with exclamations of victory.

Their Hokage watched all of this with a real smile this time. They had won against all odds and were alive to tell the tale. Suddenly the surrounding shinobi rushed forward and lifted Naruto into the air. Then they began chanting for him and he swore this was the happiest day of his life as he listened to them: "Naruto!"

"Naruto!"

"Naruto!"

But as they continued, Naruto found that the thunderous volume of his name was beginning to wane, many of his shinobi's mouths were now moving, but no sound was coming from them. Slowly all the shouts seemed to collect into one that was oddly feminine…

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"WAAAHHHHHH!"

A growl emanated through out the room as a head of hair tossed itself up and looked at the cradle on the edge of the room. Slapping an arm to the side, the wielder found herself alone in the large bed, with her husband no where near. Waking up slightly, the red head was able to make out the squeal of the shower in their bathroom.

"WAAAAHHHHHH!"

Jumping to her feet, with a scowl plastered on her face, Kushina made here way over to the crib and looked down at her daughter. The little girl was continuing wailing loudly. Reaching down and picking up the squabbling child she rocked her gently in her arms while cooing softly about "mommy's here" and "shush dear."

Gradually both baby and mother calmed down in each others presence. One stopped crying and the other's bad mood dissipated. Sitting her down on her knee, Kushina smiled at her and asked, "And how are you this morning dear?"

Of course her only reply was baby gibberish, but it made her happy just the same as she would wait patently for her to learn to speak. Rubbing her hair softly, mother looked at daughter and marveled at how similarly they looked. Tsuki, unlike both Naruto and Natsura, whom looked like their father, was a clone of her mother. And while Kushina loved both her other children dearly, there was something about having a little baby that you knew looked just like you did at that age.

Staring up at her mother with that cute face that in unique to babies alone, the similarities were undeniable. She had the signature bright red hair of the Uzumaki, and bright blue eye just like her mother and sister. Also, her facial features seemed to be mimicking Kushina's perfectly,

But the beautiful moment between mother and daughter came to a sudden end when the sound of a door opening drew both of their attention.

At the side of the room, Minato had just finished with his shower and walked into their bedroom with a towel around his waist. Upon spotting the two red heads, whose attention he had drawn be gave a soft smile and greetings, "Good morning you two. How are two of my favorite women this Morning?"

Kushina giggled as Tsuki blabbed back to her father while clapping her hands together, before returning her own greeting, "We are doing just wonderful aren't we Tsuki?" and she proceeded to begin tickling the child.

Minato looked over at the clock and read the distinctive 7:30 while mentally acknowledging the fact that he still had plenty of time before he should be at the office to begin the day and proceed to go over to his dresser and dress himself.

Meanwhile Kushina had also noticed the time and had left the room with Tsuki in her arms to wake up her son for the day.

A quick trip down the hall was all it took for her to reach his room. Carefully opening the door and peaking inside she was greeted by a rather messy room. Clothes, toys, and books were scattered across the floor. The fan was spinning lazily on the ceiling, filling the room with a slight breeze. She entered carefully, but had to jump back to avoid a bucket from colliding with her head.

She couldn't help but sigh to herself. While it wasn't much of a trap for an experienced shinobi, that little greeting was the current pinnacle of Naruto and Natsura's prank war. And while the two were still to young to do anything to complicated or dangerous, it was still a hassle at times to deal with and would only escalate as they got older.

Reentering, Kushina was much more watchful as she tiptoed through the minefield of objects of the boy's floor. Finally reaching the bed with Tsuki still tightly resting in her arms she reached down to wake her little four year old. "Naruto."

"Naruto…"

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Cracking his eyes open, Naruto's vision was abruptly flooded with light. "Naruto." The voice came again. Quickly shutting them, he flipped his body over in an effort to protect his vision. But then his body started shaking and that voice, "Naruto." Craning his head, he groggily blinked his eyes as the world around him came into focus.

"There we go. Its time to wake up sleepy head." His mother said playfully down to him as she continued to shake him.

Pushing her arm away and sitting up he rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around. Then as pieces of memories of his dream from last night played trough his head his eyes widened and he leaped over the head board of his bed, while shouting about "sharks" and the likes.

Kushina watched in amusement as he came to life and attempted to get out of bed in a rather dramatic way, but… his foot caught on the head board and he face planted into a pile of clothes on the other side. Giggling for the second time that morning, she peaking around the board at her downed son.

Naruto, hearing her snickering quickly composed himself and gave her a childish glare, but that only made it worse. "Mom, stop laughing at me." He pouted.

Still not completely over the moment, she reached down and grabbed his cheek and gave it a nice pinch. She knew he hated it when she did that, but she couldn't help herself, he just looked so cute, which she promptly told him, "But Narutooooo, you are just so adorable." Seeming to agree with her mother, Tsuki too began babbling at her blond older brother. "See Tsuki thinks so too."

Naruto didn't bother replying and just made himself content with muttering to himself. Standing up he looked at the clock in his room 7:37.

Seeing where he was looking Kushina turn to leave, but left with a few parting words as he began changing, "Hurry up and get ready, Dad with be waiting for you downstairs."

Throwing on his uniform, which consisted of a pair of green shorts and white collard shirt with a green diagonal line, he, just as his mother had, left his room not a minute later.

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Whistling to himself as he scrambled some eggs on the stove, Minato watched absently as the meal began to slowly come together. Hearing the creaking of the stairs, the Fourth made a mental note to apply some seal to fix that. Tilting his head to the side he watched as his son entered the kitchen/casual dining room and took a seat. Smiling at the boy, the taller blond said, "How you doing this morning champ?"

"Fine." Came the tired reply.

Short, sweet, and completely undisruptive, but Minato wasn't one to be deterred and continued trying to press his son for conversation, "And how did you sleep?"

"Fine." It came again.

Looking over his shoulder to made sure he wasn't talking to a recording, we was satisfied seeing Naruto at the table, but again, the little reply wasn't what he was looking for, though all things considered it was a pretty normal thing for this situation. Deciding to pull out the big guns, he fired off his next question, knowing he would be getting a better answer that those already asked, "Any interesting dreams?"

Minato felt Naruto's eyes turn to him and he knew that he had his son hooked. His son always had interesting dreams and loved to talk about them.

Scooping the finished eggs onto plates, he listened to Naruto recount his tale of the zombie sharks invasion of the elemental nations. He proceeded to pour both of them glasses of orange juice and while hearing Naruto rapidly explaining the situation Mr. Teeth (he chucked at that one) had forced their world to its knees, only for Naruto to save it from defeat.

The Fourth was overjoyed as he listened to his son rant about how he was going to be the best Hokage ever and be totally cool. He could already see a budding Konoha shinobi in him that he knew he would be proud of.

They both finished their meals and placed their dished away. Then at 8:00 exactly they walked out the front door hand in hand and started the daily trek to the school Naruto was attending.

As father and son strolled through the streets Naruto was preoccupied with watching Konoha wake up. He observes the early risers going about their business, shinobi leaping across the roofs (He wished he could do that), and shops and stands open up for the coming day.

But while Naruto was focused else where, Minato watched him bounce up and down and look around with wide eyes as if it was his first time out and about this early. But in reality they had been doing this for three month. It had all started when…

**xxxxxxxFlashbackxxxxxxx**

The whole Uzumaki family was at the park. It was a warm Sunday, which Minato didn't have to work on. Natsura was running around the grass with some of the other clan children. It always surprised him how all the clan head seemed to have children in the same timeframe, not that he minded, it gave his own children plenty of other to play with and begin forming bonds with those they found one day be fighting beside, not that Naruto seemed to care. Natsura was the one who always played with them, while Naruto had his own little group he like to be with. And so today you could see the young blond boy sitting under a tree with three other kids.

They were talking rather animatedly and Minato observed them waving their hands in the air, when suddenly one of the reached over and tagged another. Faster than could be, they were up and about burning off their energy in an impromptu game of tag.

Returning his attention to his daughter, he watched her and the other clan heirs engage in a race up the hill at the far side of the park, well some of them. Natsura was neck and neck with the Inuzuka boy Kiba and the Uchiha, Sasuke. Just behind them was Hinata. Sitting in the shade of a tree at the bottom of the hill, Shikamaru, Choji and Shino watched them. Nearby in a field of flower, Inoichi's daughter, Ino was enjoying her own companions.

"Minato?" Turning his head away from his children playing, he looked to his left and his wife. But next to her on the park bench he also saw Fugaku and Mikoto. The female Uchiha gave a polite wave, while her husband just nodded his head in his direction.

Getting the sign, the Fourth stood along with Fugaku and walked off to a different area of the park, while looking for some other men, to have interesting conversation with.

Back on the bench they had just abandoned, the women they left completely ignored their leaving and began catching up on the goings on from the last week.

As they wandered Fugaku was the first to spot their future male company and tap the Fourth on the shoulder. Minato just turned and followed the other man to a table that seemed to be the congregating point for all the men who had kids enjoying the park.

There were almost twenty in total, some sitting, some in their own circle few feet away. But upon Fugaku and his arrival, everyone when quiet and looked to them, and then as one they all greeted the new arrivals.

Walking from man to man and greeting his various friends and acquaintance, he finally got himself a seat on at the table, where a few of the fathers were in the middle of a cutthroat game of Go Fish. He didn't pay to much attention to the game and instead engaged in conversation with Shikaku, who was sitting next to him.

Back with Kushina and Mikoto, they had just finished their own catch up period, and were ready to find their own company. Similarly to the men, they found a large congression of mother at their own little corner of the park and joined the little party.

This was a pretty normal Sunday for the Uzumaki family and the time of day passed quickly for all of them. The children releasing their endless supply of energy and the parents relaxing in good company. Yep pretty normal, well at least until Naruto appeared at his father's side with a question that was a rather touchy one for the Fourth, "Can I go to School?"

Conversation stopped as all the fathers stopped to listen the their leader converse with his son.

Looking down at his son, he also saw the girl that was standing behind him and knew that she was involved. Her name was Kaori and she was easily Naruto's best friend. She had short black hair, brown eyes, and was rather small in stature. And though she didn't come from a clan, both her parent had served honorably in the shinobi corps. She also had a rather heavy influence on his son as they spent vast amounts of the week together doing… well kid stuff.

But getting back to the matter at hand he replied sternly to his son, "Naruto, we have talked about this. You can enter the academy when you are eight an-"

"No dad, I wanna go to school with Kaori she going to…" but he had to stop as he attempted to stumble through some rather difficult word for his little four year old mind, but promptly gave up and turned to his friend.

Kaori stepped forward and clapped her hands together while looking up at the Hokage with a dazzling smile. "What Naruto is trying to say is that I am going to be attending an accelerated learning program at the Daimyo's Academy for Scholarly Pursuit and it would be so much more bearable if I had a friend their to pass the time with."

Every single one of the dads in the group watched in amazement as the little girl spoke with such… well big words for her age. The Fourth himself was a little stunned and didn't respond right away, but instead just gave her a rather odd look, but she just kept smiling brightly at him. That reminded him of Natsura who would speak with the utmost confidence and when trouble came about she would just smile through it.

Smiling his own smile, Minato just shook his head and looked down at the two children before him and wasn't sure how to respond. On one hand he was very confident that his children would one day become wonderful shinobi regardless of how soon they started training. Due to this he had resolved to take it slow with them and keep them out of the academy until they were at the normal starting age. Hey Minato himself had started at eight and he turned out just fine. On the other hand this wasn't the shinobi academy where starting early would force him to grow up quickly, and instead would most likely just stimulate mental growth. But this was an accelerated program, and while he wasn't entirely sure what that entailed, it did mean learning thing ahead of when you normally would. But was learning to do a certain math equation and learning to properly kill someone this early different?

The Fourth let out a sigh and resolved to sort through his thoughts at a later date and so he turned to the kid who were waiting expectantly, Naruto was fidgeting a bit, but Kaori was standing at attention, having not moved a muscle and the smile still plastered on her face. "I will have to look this program you are taking, so we will see, but as of now I am undecided." And while Naruto look down at the statement, as it wasn't the yes he had been hoping for, but Kaori on the other hand just gave a little shout of joy. Grabbing her blond friends hand she dragged him back to their other friends.

Back with the dad's, with the excitement over, they returned to their previous talking. Unfortunately, their leader was no longer interested and just sat their sifting through his own thoughts on what had just occurred.

He was brought out of his mussing, as he felt a new presence seat itself down next to him. Turning his head he eyed the new comer and winced slightly. The man that now sat next to him had a crutch gripped tightly in his right arm. He was missing his right leg from the knee down along with the entirety of what had once been his left arm. Half his face was thrashed with scars and the other half had rather shaggy facial hair. On the side with the scaring his eye was devoid of color. Other than those rather distinguishing features, he had brown hair and one green eye.

Over all it was a rather gruesome look which brought a pang of guilt to Minato. He knew the many, as well as the mission that had brought about the end of his career. It was one of the many things in his life he regretted as he had been the one to send him on the mission.

"How are you Hokage-sama?" he asked. His voice was slightly gargled, as the damage that he had received to the face had also damaged the inside of his mouth.

Nodding to the man the Fourth gave him a smile, "I am doing just great Matsu. Your daughter is doing well." He referred to Kaori. "She is starting to look quite a bit like her mother."

The man next to him, now identified as Matsu gave off a ugly laugh and Minato swore it looked like it hurt, but didn't comment and left the scared man to speak, "That she is. She will one day be as beautiful too I'm sure."

And though on the outside he smiled back at the man, on the inside he grimaced, but because the man's wife was unattractive, it was just, that like her husband, she had been on the same mission that ended up crippling them both.

Said mission had been six years before and was to protect the life of a scholar in the capitol of Fire Country. Said scholar had been publishing some rather… controversial paper on the labor problems in the south and had unfortunately made himself some powerful enemies that were after his life. He had hired Konoha shinobi to protect him. The shinobi protecting the scholar were successful in defending his life, but in the final attempt by their unknown nemesis, an explosion devastated the group. The explosion, mean to kill the scholar, ended up killing two Konoha shinobi, while Matsu and his future wife Tsubachi were gravely injured.

While their lives were saved, they were forced to retire due to the horrible injuries they sustained. The good thing and pretty much they only positive is that during their time in the hospital they fell in love, which led to their eventual marriage and the birth of Kaori.

Back with the conversation at hand, Matsu continued the conversation. "She really wants to go to school. She already has dreams of becoming a doctor. A rather noble dream, not sure it will stick around, but she has seemed pretty motivated. I think it has something to do with Tsubachi and I. She has been saying she wants to help people so that what happened to us doesn't happen to them."

Minato just nodded as he listened to the man, wondering in his head about Naruto and Kaori. "Have you gotten her into that school? It is rather prestigious."

At that Matsu let out another of his rough chuckles, "That would be something that came out of that whole limb losing fiasco that me and Tsubachi went through. It turns out that the son of that scholar is the instructor of the program that we are entering Kaori into. He is going to be doing it for us for free because of how we help his father. If it wasn't for him, we would be able to afford sending her their."

"I could probably get Naruto in, but it would be something I would need to discuss it with Kushina before hand." The Hokage replied and Matsu nodded. "But I'm not sure if I want him to be doing anything other than just be a kid at the moment. Sending to school, and yet it seems so soon." he let out an exasperated sigh.

"Well I can't tell you what you should do. We already made the decision to send her their. She has a dream and we will do all in our power to help her achieve it." Concluded Matsu. The cripple proceeded to get himself up out of his seat with the assistance of his crutch, the piece of wood didn't look very comfortable.

The Fourth watched the man return to his own friends and reengage in conversation with them leaving him alone to think…

**xxxxxENDxxxxxxFLASHBACKxxxxx**

It had been a rather lengthy conversation, but eventually Kushina and Minato resolved to allow Naruto to attend the class with Kaori. It came down to a combination of factors.

First off, while neither of them wanted their kids to grow up too fast, after looking into the program, they both were reassured that Naruto wouldn't be dragged to far into the higher age groups and would still have time to do other thing, not be desk bound with homework.

Second, Naruto was incredibly enthusiastic about it and though it seemed to them that he didn't truly understand what school was going to entail, they figured that they might as well give him the chance to see how he liked it instead of making that decision for him.

And finally, it would be a good way to get him out of the house, leaving Kushina with one less thing to worry about. With only two children to attend too, Natsura and Kaori, giving her an easier time at the house.

Minato and Kushina had decided that if they were going to allow Naruto to go then they would allow Natsura and though this displeased their son, he didn't have to worry for long. Natsura, in an act of sibling rivalry had instantly accepte4d the offer from her parents to attend school with her brother in the special accelerated learning class.

Unfortunately, when faced with the reality of what the class was like she had dropped out in a week and a half, complaining about being bored and having better things to do.

Turning the last corner to the school. Minato was dragged from his thoughts as his son was ploughed over by a green flash. Turning the Fourth watched in amusement as Naruto tried to get out from underneath Kaori. Though the girl was smaller than Naruto, she had the leverage to keep him down while teasing him vigorously, but finally related when Minato gave a little cough.

The two children helped each other up and dusted the dirt from their clothes, in a way that seemed to be in stark contrast to their rough housing a moment before. And then, like the wind they were off, with only enough time for Naruto to yell back, "Bye Daddy!"

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And that is it folks. Ya this chapter is a bit slower, but I want to do character and plot development before we get to the later parts of the story. I absolutely hate flashback, as for the most part, I feel they don't add to the story and only take away and confuse. The reason I had a flashback here is because I figured that if I had a whole chapter dedicated to Naruto trying to convince his parents to let him go to school, it would be incredibly boring.

I never understood why people make Naruto incredibly smart, and yet it almost always comes from reading book, just shows up ion its own, or is developed by a teacher that really doesn't have anything to do with a lot of the subject matter that he supposedly teaches.

Anyways, I hope I showed that Naruto's parents love him, and don't neglect him in anyway.

Also, I had a lot of fun writing that opener and will trying to add something like that to help keep these early chapters from being to dry. And while the chapter itself wasn't as long, I felt that if I drew it out it would just be plain dull, so this is whatcha get.

I am a little week on my two weeks I said I would get this chapter out by, but that was just because of some Thanksgiving stuff that kept me busy and plan on releasing the next chapter next Friday.

I loved the responds I got for this chapter. I made me feel good to know that people were interested in my story. If there is any advice or ideas or really anything that you have to say please leave a comment, but if not, then have a hell of a day.


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